


Ghost Girls

by homosociallyyours



Category: Ghostbusters (2016)
Genre: F/F, Friendship, Mention of abuse, ghost story, kind of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-10
Updated: 2016-08-10
Packaged: 2018-08-07 21:36:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,173
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7730587
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/homosociallyyours/pseuds/homosociallyyours
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Erin tells Abby about how she got her nickname.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ghost Girls

**Author's Note:**

> I had a lot of headcanons about Erin's encounter with her neighbor's ghost, and I had to get them written down. This fic is un-betaed and loosely edited, so if you see something amiss I do accept constructive criticism. Thank you for reading!

Erin met Abby when she was 15, a year younger than anyone else in junior year, and already dreaming about what it would look like on the other side of high school and far from her home town. She was staring off into space, thinking about how different things would be, when she realized that her homeroom teacher was saying her name. 

“Present,” she said, turning her attention to the front of the classroom. Several of the other students stifled giggles, until Amanda Gilbraithe--the girl whose name had come after hers in every class they’d shared since third grade and her worst tormentor--rolled her eyes, whispering “maybe she was trying to contact the spirit realm,” causing a bubble of laughter to rise up from the rest of the class. 

“Ms. Gilbert, if you’d been paying attention you’d have heard that I was assigning you a new student to show around the school. Ms. Yates, you can take the seat next to Ms. Gilbert and we’ll begin,” the teacher said. 

The girl nodded once and walked confidently toward the back of the classroom, staring daggers at Amanda as she passed. She sat down in the seat next to Erin’s before extending her hand for a shake. “I’m Abby,” she said. She was smiling, not in the usual mean way or with any expectation. Just a friendly smile. Erin thought it best to tell it to her straight. 

“I’m Erin, but listen, you don’t have to hang out with me after this, you can find some other friends if you want,” she said quickly. 

Abby quirked her eyebrow and shook her head quickly. “No, I think we’re gonna do fine,” she said, pulling a physics textbook out of her bag. Erin eyed it stealthily. 

“Are you taking AP Physics already?” she asked. 

“Yeah, I’m a nerd,” Abby said, cracking the book open. 

And just like that, they were friends. 

Erin waited as long as she could to tell Abby about her past. It wasn’t a long time, thanks in large part to the fact that nearly everyone at school still called her “Ghost Girl.”

“OK Erin, you’ve gotta tell me. What’s ghost girl about?” Abby asked one night as they sat in her basement studying for the next physics test.

“It’s nothing, it’s stupid. Just some nickname that a couple of kids gave me that stuck,” she said, avoiding eye contact. 

“Yeah right, Erin. EHHHHHHHNNNN, wrong,” she said, mimicking a game show buzzer. “Come on, you can tell me.” 

And Erin told her. The whole thing. Feeling sick and sad as she spoke, because this was it. 

“OK, so when I was a kid, you know like 5 or 6, I started taking piano lessons with the lady next door. I’d go to her house after school but before my mom got home from work and at first she just let me learn scales, but. She was...really mean. Like, mean-mean. And if I messed up she’d put her hand over my hand and grab it, you know? Kind of. Squeeze it? And then she’d mash my fingers down on the right keys. Sort of too hard.” 

As Erin talked she grabbed her left hand with her right and squeezed, pulling her fingers into a tight knot and releasing them. Abby stayed silent, but nodded for Erin to continue. 

“My mom ended up changing jobs and she got off earlier, so the lessons stopped, finally. I was 7. And then she died. Not my mom, obviously,” she said quickly. “The lady next door. I heard the ambulance come one day when I was home and they wheeled her out all covered up.” She paused, considering what to say next. Abby rested her chin on her hand and waited. 

“Then what happened?” she asked quietly. 

Erin continued nervously. “So that night, I was lying in bed. My eyes were closed, and then I just...felt like I should open them. I didn’t want to, but it was like I had to? And. She was standing there at the foot of my bed. Just. Staring. Staring at me and…” Erin’s fingers twitched slightly. “Kind of squeezing her hands. Or. They weren’t hands, exactly. She wasn’t solid or whole, she was this faded out version of herself, glowing a little? She looked blue. Like, electric blue, but also kind of just...dead blue? And the room smelled funny, almost like when you do a battery experiment or something.” 

She looked up, expecting to see Abby smirking back at her like everyone else. Instead she saw something unusual: shock and concern. “What did you do?!” Abby asked. 

Erin felt herself choking up. She hadn’t cried about seeing Mrs. Lawler like that since seeing her first therapist. Since nobody ever believed her, she’d gotten used to keeping her feelings about the whole thing in a place that she didn’t show anyone. “Nothing! I felt like I couldn’t move. Or scream. I just laid there. And the next day I told my mom.” 

“What did she do? Did someone come to investigate? Wait, was this your house? Like your now house? Where I just ate dinner with you and your mom a week ago?” Abby’s eyes were alight with excitement and concern. 

Erin laughed a little, dabbing at the tears that had welled up in her eyes. “Oh, well. Mom didn’t do anything at first. She sort of just nodded at me and then called the principal to ask if I could talk to the grief counselor at school. And I told him what happened, and one of the other kids was outside his office and heard me tell the whole thing, and when I went out to recess that day somebody came over and asked if I had really seen a ghost. So I said yes, and then...that started Ghost Girl.” 

“Nobody believed you?” Abby asked. “Not even your mom?” Erin shook her head. “And did she come back?” 

“Who?” Erin asked. 

“The ghost,” Abby said forcefully. “Did anything else happen? Did she talk to you, or, I don’t know, move around?” 

“She came back a lot. Most nights, for a year or so. The thing is, after the first night, she didn’t scare me as much. She almost looked kind of...beautiful? The way she glowed. And I didn’t think she could touch me. I think she wanted to, but she couldn’t.” Erin paused, looking down. Abby reached out and put her hand on Erin’s knee, rubbing it gently with her thumb. 

“I know it was a long time ago, and maybe it doesn’t matter as much. But I believe you. I haven’t seen a ghost, but there’s no way that’s not real,” she said. 

“It means a lot, actually,” Erin said. “Nobody has ever taken me seriously.” She placed her hand over Abby’s. “You know if you’re messing with me I’ll come back and haunt you when I’m dead, right?” 

Abby laughed. “I’m not messing with you. If you’re a ghost girl, so am I.”


End file.
